Researchers have found that Jupiter was initially very distant from the sun and only after a span of several hundred thousand years was able to migrate closer into the solar system.
“This is the first time we have proof that Jupiter was formed a long way from the sun and then migrated to its current orbit. We found evidence of the migration in the Trojan asteroids orbiting close to Jupiter”, explains Simona Pirani, doctoral student in astronomy at Lund University, and the lead author of the study.
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)